The Hindu : National : Narayana Murthy not for expanding reservation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 15, 2006

National

National

Narayana Murthy not for expanding reservation

Opposes increase in reservation of seats

Bangalore: Echoing the sentiments of students threatened by a proposed increase in quota in higher education institutes, Infosys Chief Mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy on Friday asked the Government to channel its money and efforts towards strengthening primary education.

"[The] basic problem in the country is at primary and secondary level where we have not been able to enrol sufficient number of students from the disadvantaged sections," Mr. Murthy, one of the founders of Infosys, said here.

"We already have reservation for SCs and STs. That again is a fact of life. Expanding [the reservation] is not the right solution. Because it raises many, many questions. Are you going to have reservation in Armed forces then," he asked.

Mr. Murthy was reacting to Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh's announcement that 27 per cent of seats in Centrally-funded education institutions, Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management would be earmarked for Other Backward Classes.

Opposing the proposed increase in reservation of seats, Mr. Murthy, who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of IIM Ahmedabad, said money and effort should focus on making students from the disadvantaged sections "market-worthy and competition-worthy."

"[The] solution is spending more money and [making more] efforts in making them market-worthy and competition-worthy. We have to make strong efforts. I have no doubt we can do it," he said, adding that these efforts should be taken up as a "national mission," he added. — PTI

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